1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to chair accessories and in particular to an assembly for attaching a tray to a chair such as a lawn chair.
2. Description of Related Art
At a buffet party people may sit in a chair and eat and drink without a table. Consequently, eating and drinking becomes difficult without a free hand. This problem is especially acute at a lawn party where guests may be seated on a lawn chair. Therefore an accessory tray that can be attached to a chair is greatly needed.
Adaptability is an important design consideration for a tray accessory for a chair. Chairs, especially lawn chairs, can come in various sizes and may have a variety of interfering structure. An adaptable design can work around these variations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,652 shows a stadium chair that clips onto a bench. This known seat has a pair of parallel runners with grooves that hold a sliding tray. This design is not adapted, however, to be mounted on 30 various types of chairs such as lawn chairs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,250 shows a case that is secured to a seat by means of a sleeve. While the case 1 has a sliding tray, the sleeve is not useful for attaching the tray to a variety of chairs. For example, a lawn chair may have struts that connect from the side of the chair to an arm. That structure may prevent the sleeve from slipping around the chair. Moreover, this sleeve interferes with the seating surface and may require an additional cushion.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,755,845 shows a bracket for attaching a tray to a chair, but this structure requires a special type of chair seat which is not ordinarily present in familiar chairs as lawn chairs.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,244,459; 5,035,464 and 5,129,702 show various assemblies for attaching a tray to a chair. These assemblies, however, are either not adaptable and may be dedicated to a specific chair. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,341,418 and 5,096,249.